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Gov. Mike Easley held a press conference Monday monring in Kenly after touring damage from this weekend's deadly tornadoes. An EF-2 category tornado killed one person in Kenly and a reported EF-3 tornado killed another in Wilson County early Saturday.
During the press conference Easley announced that seven homes in Wilson were totally destroyed. Seven other homes had major damage and 12 others had minor damage.
In Johnston County, nine homes were completely destroyed while 11 others received major damage and 12 had minor damage.
Easley said the cleanup and recovery will continue even after he is no longer Governor. He also said he was amazed that more people had not been injured in Saturday’s deadly tornadoes.
Disaster Application Centers To Open In Johnston, Wilson Counties
Easley said the severe weather displaced between 100 and 120 people from their homes, many who are now with friends and family.
The Red Cross has had to provide only 10 hotel rooms.
Easley is asking residents to be careful of the scattered debris, including downed power lines.
In Wilson, a 10-year-old boy was killed. Six homes were destroyed and another 26 were damaged. In Kenly, a 61-year-old woman lost her life. Seven homes were destroyed with 30 others damaged.
Emergency and rescue crews in Kenly responded to where damage was reported to homes in the area of Scott Road and Bridgers Road at North Carolina Highway 222 shortly after 2:30 a.m.
Danny Hill, who lives on London Church Road, said the tornado woke up him and his granddaughter early Saturday morning.
Hill said they could immediately tell it was bad, so they hid in a closet.
After the storm quickly passed, Hill went outside and used a flashlight to look for signs of life across the street, where his neighbor's home had been blown off its foundation.
Hill said he saw the couple about 100 yards down the street, after they'd been blown away with much of their home.
"They were begging me to help find their son," he said.
Hill said he searched for their 10-year-old grandson, Joshua Wiggins, who they'd adopted a few years ago after his mother was murdered.
Hill said Wiggins' body was later found on the home's foundation, still lying in his bed.
"I still see him in the yard, laughing and waving at me," he said. "I keep repeating that in my head and I have to go to sleep with that at night and I don't know if I can."
Other homes along London Church Road suffered little or no damage.
The Cisneros' live a few homes down from the Wiggins family, and said they woke up Saturday morning to find their home untouched, while noticing the Wiggins home had been destroyed.
"I knew I saw something missing but I couldn't tell what until a couple of seconds later and I knew there was a house there and it was all gone," said 13-year-old Daniel Cisneros.
The family did have some tree damage and the kids' trampoline had blown away.
Maryland Gomez, 60, from Kenly also died. Her husband was taken to the hospital.
"It's a tragedy. I was tore up. She was a good person. She helped us,” said Curt Jerniga, a neighbor.
In this tight-knit community most neighbors knew each other.
"Mrs. Gomez was a good person. Mr. Gomez was really nice, her son was a good person, I’m sad to hear that Mrs. Gomez passed away," said Stephen Hooks, another neighbor.
People in the community said they'll work hard to fix the damage, because it’s things that can be replaced.
"This is paper and plastic, this is wood and chips, no big deal, but when you lose a life, that's what hits home," said Jernigan.
Neighbors say she'll be missed.
"Mrs. Gomez was a good person, Mr. Gomez was really nice, her son was a good person, I'm sad to hear that Mrs. Gomez passed away," said Stephen Hooks.
Emergency officials say two others suffered minor injuries.
The Red Cross says storm victims are either staying with family and friends, or at a local hotel that offered them rooms for the night.
The Red Cross also tells us no one's staying in the shelter overnight, but that it will reopen at eight tomorrow morning.
They're asking all storm victims to show up in the morning so they can assess what their immediate needs will be in the interim.
The Associated Press has reported that Gomez was found dead in the wreckage of her home. A third person authorities thought was missing had been accounted for. In Wilson County, 21 homes were destroyed or damaged and a few injuries were reported.
Related Article: Twisters Destroy Or Damage Five Dozen Homes (11/17/08)
Friends Remember Josh Wiggins (11/17/08)
Kenly Victim Remembered; Cleanup Continues (11/16/08)
Map of Kenly Where Tornado Hit
Map of Wilson County Where Tornado Hit
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Damage has been reported on each end of Johnston County and in other areas along the Interstate 95 corridor. As many as 9,000 people were without power during the storm. That number is down to about 400 according to Progress Energy.
Residents emerged at daybreak to find their homes in ruins, cars flipped over and debris strewn about. Several injuries also were reported.
Officials said the severe storm affected a half-dozen counties, knocking down tress and power lines.
"It was pretty massive destruction," Johnston County emergency management coordinator Derrick Duggins said. "It goes to show the magnitude of what natural weather can do."
Kenly residents picked through the debris of Mark Stephenson's one-story brick home that was leveled. Family and friends piled up mattresses, took pictures of the damage and filled garbage bags with trash.
The winds tossed family portraits into the woods some 200 yards away. The skeleton of a new camper the Stephensons had just bought rested nearby.
One half of Stephenson's home was flattened, while a tree had fallen through the other half, on top of his 19-year-old daughter's bedroom. She was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"It's hard to believe, it's hard to take in," Stephenson said. "We've got our lives and our health, so we're good to go."
His 14-year-old son, Hunter, pointed to what used to be his bedroom - now just a pile of bricks and beams. Hunter's bedroom was being remodeled and he had been sleeping in the living room.
"I'm lucky," he said. "It's crazy, if I would have been in there, I would have been dead."
Three homes away, Stacey Franks, 31, checked on her 78-year-old father. Two large trees had missed falling on his mobile home by a few feet. His tractor-trailer had been flipped on its side.
"He's nerves are really damaged. He's just upset," Franks said of her father. "I just can't believe this has happened."
Authorities did not immediately release the names or ages of those killed.
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, who represents the area, surveyed the damage Saturday, describing beams in the home where the woman was found as spaghetti-like. Gov. Mike Easley planned to tour the area Sunday.
Kenly residents picked through the rubble of a one-story brick home that was devastated. Family and friends piled up mattresses, took pictures of the damage and filled garbage bags with trash.
In the woods nearly 200 yards from the home, friends gathered family portraits that had been tossed aside.
Residents in shock
"This is something I would expect to see on National Geographic. This is completely out of there for me," according to Tim Whitlock, a storm victim.
Whitlock moved here from New York a year ago.
His house is now condemned, just like his neighbor's.
"I went into my room earlier today and the entire window was busted through, there was a hole in my ceiling," Whitlock said.
Emergency Management officials say 30 homes in Johnston County sustained damage -- of those seven were destroyed.
"This is probably one of the worst disasters that our community has faced probably more so than when Hurricanes Fran and Floyd come through," said Paul Whitehurst, the Chief of the Kenly Fire Department.
State and federal teams, along with Governor Mike Easley, are expected to assess the damage first thing Monday.
Meantime, residents here say they'll salvage what they can after a storm they'll never forget.
"It just sounded like a freight train... I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen a tornado my whole life, 41 years I've never seen a tornado or heard one. But now I'll never forget the sound," said storm victim Curt Jernigan.
Red Cross Sets Up Assistance Center
The American Red Cross continues to provide shelter, food, new clothing and other emergency assistance to the Johnston and Wilson County tornado victims.
According to the Red Cross, 37 trained volunteers and outreach teams responded to the disaster areas to help those who were affected by Saturday’s deadly tornadoes.
The Free Will Baptist Church in Kenly is being used as a Red Cross Service Center for assistance to the victims. The Red Cross Center is providing meals, drinks and snacks. This Service Center will remain open Monday Nov. 17 with client assistance from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and again on Tuesday as needed until all of the victims have been taken care of.
Two Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles have been providing food and drinks at the disaster sites of those affected and those working on recovery efforts. The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina has offered food assistance to disaster victims.
The Red Cross has offered the following tips for those residing or working in the affected area to stay safer:
• When it is safe to return home, wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and sturdy shoes when examining your walls, doors, staircases and windows for damage.
• Watch out for fallen power lines or broken gas lines and report them to the utility company immediately.
• Avoid damaged areas as your presence might hamper rescue and other emergency operations and put you at further risk from the residual effects of tornadoes.
• Stay out of damaged buildings.
• Use battery-powered lanterns or flashlights when examining buildings. DO NOT USE CANDLES.
• If you smell gas or hear a blowing or hissing noise, open a window and get everyone out of the building quickly. Turn off the gas using the outside main valve if you can, and call the gas company from a neighbor's home. If you turn off the gas for any reason, it must be turned back on by a professional.
• Clean up spilled medications, bleaches, gasoline, or other flammable liquids that could become a fire hazard.
• Check for injuries. If you are trained, provide first aid to persons in need until emergency responders arrive.
• Take pictures of the damage, both of the building and its contents, for insurance claims.
• Use the telephone only for emergency calls. Telephone lines are frequently overwhelmed in disaster situations. They need to be kept clear for emergency calls to get through.
• Watch your animals closely. Keep all your animals under your direct control. Your pets may be able to escape from your home or through a broken fence. Pets may become disoriented, particularly because tornadoes and the heavy rains that accompany them will usually affect scent markers that normally allow animals to find their homes.
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